How the IRA is being squeezed to death

Investigators are chasing every penny derived from criminal activity to strip the terrorist group of its wealth

When photographs of John Noonan helping Gerry Adams shoulder the coffin of a famous IRA volunteer through the streets of Belfast appeared in newspapers last February, Sinn Fein reacted in horror. Noonan was a former adjutant officer of the Provisional's Dublin brigade and had stood for Sinn Fein in the European elections of 1984. Adam's former comrade had also served a prison sentence for possession of firearms in the 1970s, which further enhanced his republican credentials.

But that was then. By the time the Sinn Fein leader realised that Noonan was standing behind him at the funeral of Brendan Hughes, a founder member of the Provisional IRA when it broke away from the Official IRA in 1970, the cameras had already recorded the moment for posterity.

Adams, peacemaker and politician, didn't need to be photographed with a man who was the subject of an in-depth investigation by the Criminal Assets